Video - why does it get smaller after uploading?

Speedie

Hi,
Just uploaded my first video but was a bit disappointed to see that the physical size had changed. Below are the original size as played in QuickTime, and the SmugMug size. I noticed some other SmugMug videos are much bigger. Is there anything I can do to it to preserve the original size? It's in .mp4 format. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Andy

Hi, can you please link us to the actual video? I need to see the video file, in situ - thanks!

Speedie

Hi Andy,
Here's the link.

Andy

Hi, the original uploaded to us was 320x178 in size.

What size do you show on your computer?

Speedie

In the Quicktime properties it says 432x240. I uploaded to Photobucket and it plays at that size there (actually slightly larger) - link here. Also YouTube here. In fact I'd prefer it not to be bigger because the quality goes down a bit, but I'm confused as to why it should get smaller.

Andy

Speedie wrote:

In the Quicktime properties it says 432x240. I uploaded to Photobucket and it plays at that size there (actually slightly larger) - link here. Also YouTube here. In fact I'd prefer it not to be bigger because the quality goes down a bit, but I'm confused as to why it should get smaller.

Have you a place you can upload it to where I can get the original file like it is on your computer?

We'll look at this.

Speedie

Thanks, I've uploaded the file zipped up here (around 14MB).

Mike Lane

Hi Speedie,

When a video is uploaded to SmugMug it is processed into several different sizes: 320x240, 640x480, and 960x540 OR 1280x720. We don't keep the originals and we don't upscale your videos. So any videos that are uploaded that are between those sizes (yours was 432x240 which I verified using the original) will get downsized to the next smaller size.

Here is a link to our help pages about this: http://www.smugmug.com/help/video3

I hope that helps. Feel free to respond here or to our help desk at help@smugmug.com if you have any further questions.

Speedie

Thanks Mike that makes sense now. By the way is any compression applied when the videos are processed (that would affect playback quality)?

Mike Lane

Speedie wrote:

Thanks Mike that makes sense now. By the way is any compression applied when the videos are processed (that would affect playback quality)?

Hey Speedy,

We use dynamic bit-rate selection. If your video comes to us with a low bit-rate, we'll reuse that bitrate. This shouldn't result in a noticeable reduction in quality. If the bitrate is higher than our max, then we resample ours instead.

Our intention is to give you the best quality while trying not to let the file size get out of control. Please email our help desk if you think we haven't gotten the balance right.

Hope that helps.

Speedie

I added a black border around the video in Quicktime Pro to pad it out to 640x480 size and uploaded to SmugMug here, but it's still been resized down to the same as before. I've also uploaded the file zipped here.

Mike Lane

Speedie wrote:

I added a black border around the video in Quicktime Pro to pad it out to 640x480 size and uploaded to SmugMug here, but it's still been resized down to the same as before. I've also uploaded the file zipped here.

I'll pass this on to people more in the know about video than I to see what may be up. It appears that the padding was removed which brought the video back down to the non-padded size and which made it so it was resized to the 320 again. I'll see if I can get confirmation and any words of wisdom.

Mike Lane

I was wondering 1) how you created that video and 2) why it was 432x240. I found my answer when your video finished and the animoto logo came up. I went to their site and, ultimately, found this:

Animoto Downloads are available in .MP4 (H.264) format. You will need QuickTime to play the video.(Hint: If you have iTunes, you already have QuickTime). The file size will be roughly 5 to 6 MBs per minute of video. Animoto Downloads have a resolution of 432x240 and can be expanded to play full screen on your computer. They look great for all general computer usage. They should also pass as decent video projections concerts, wedding, conferences, meetings, and other events. If you're looking for a high-resolution DVD-quality version of your Animoto video, you'll have to wait a few weeks. We have something in the works, but it's hush hush for now.

It looks like you may be out of luck for now but as soon as they come out with their dvd-quality videos (read 640x480), you'll be able to upload to SM and see their full glory.

I'm still double-checking to see that our processor is smart enough to strip borders from videos instead of something else odd going on.

Mike Lane

Okay, the answer is, no we don't strip padding. Here is what is going on: You didn't pad the video to 640x480. The video stream is still 432x240. What you did was add a 640x480 PNG as a 3rd stream (first being video, second being audio, and third being this PNG). Since it's not video (or audio), we ignore it.

If it isn't clear, I'm not a video expert. I'm decent enough at searching through our company emails and asking questions to find answers to issues. So I don't know how to actually pad your video stream is what I'm saying.

Speedie

Ah I see, that makes sense. I'll have to work out how to merge the layers together.

Mike Lane

Speedie wrote:

Ok thanks Mike, but I don't think SmugMug should be altering the size of videos if they are already one of the set sizes (640x480). The video author may want a border for a reason (eg. in my case, or for artistic reasons).

yeah, I gave you bad info. Sorry about that. Hopefully I clarified for you what we actually did in a follow on post.

Edit: sorry didn't see your edit. So all is well then.

Speedie

Ok sorted it now. I had to do an "export" in Quicktime instead of "save as". Here's the video at the correct size with padding so it doesn't shrink after uploading.

Mike Lane

nickhaigh

Speedie wrote:

Hi,
Just uploaded my first video but was a bit disappointed to see that the physical size had changed. Below are the original size as played in QuickTime, and the SmugMug size. I noticed some other SmugMug videos are much bigger. Is there anything I can do to it to preserve the original size? It's in .mp4 format. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Hey!

I'm having the same problem, I read through this thread but couldn't work out what the solution was?
did I miss something?
The video looked alot bigger on the Animoto site & in Quicktime

how do I get the video on my Homepage to be a similar size to the slideshow?

Mike Lane

nickhaigh wrote:

Hey!

I'm having the same problem, I read through this thread but couldn't work out what the solution was?
did I miss something?
The video looked alot bigger on the Animoto site & in Quicktime

how do I get the video on my Homepage to be a similar size to the slideshow?

What is the output size of your video? We store 1280x720 as well as 960x540 if the video is 1280x720 or above. If the video is between 960x540 and 1280x720, we just store the 960x540.